This poster is a research-based visual timeline that draws from late 1970s punk rock and feminist zines archives to showcase how underground punk and feminist scenes challenged media censorship and amplified marginalized voices.
The project also includes an accompanying motion graphic made with After Effects that can be used as a potential promotional material on social media.
Music Credit: Big Girls Don’t Cry by The Four Seasons,
“I Fought the Law” by The Clash
I began this project wanting to research feminist zines after learning about Anna Banana, an artist celebrated as a trailblazer in mail art and small press publishing. As I delved deeper, my focus shifted to the larger movement she was part of—small press publishing as an alternative to mainstream news, pushing back against censorship.
I discovered that feminist zines were just one piece of this broader picture. In the late 1970s, they were deeply intertwined with the punk rock scene, united by a shared mission: to create platforms for marginalized voices and enable them to share their perspectives with wide audiences. At the time, fighting censorship was not only an act of rebellion but also one of courage. Both the publishers of content deemed “offensive” by mainstream media and the contributors who shared their opinions risked legal repercussions and severe harassment. Yet they persisted, choosing to fight for diversity, inclusion, and the right to be heard.
This poster personifies the clash between alternative media—punk and feminist zines—and mainstream media. Two characters face off with megaphones: the smaller figure, symbolizing the limited reach of small publishers, defiantly hurls zines from the timeline at its larger opponent.
Breaking from the traditional grid, the timeline unfolds as a single continuous narrative, with each entry contributing to the broader story of this underrepresented chapter in design history. The visual style draws from the raw, grungy collage aesthetic of late ’70s punk and feminist zines.
The accompanying motion graphic features both characters from the poster in a musical remix of “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by The Four Seasons, abruptly interrupted by The Clash’s cover of “I Fought the Law”—a nod to alternative media and its trailblazers fearlessly disrupting mainstream narratives.